Cartridge World capitalising on economic slowdown

The current economic slowdown, which has seen companies take drastic measures at cost cutting, has come as a business opportunity for organised printer cartridge refilling and retailing chain, Cartridge World.

The Australian company, which started operations in India in 2006, is now focusing on the institutional refilling market, a spin-off from its core business model of neighbourhood stores.

“In recent months, we have been getting bulk enquiries from big Indian companies trying to cut cost by adopting superior-quality printer cartridge refilling vis-à-vis buying new ones. This has substantial savings for a large corporate house with multiple office set-up,” Naveen Rakhecha, CEO (South Asia), Cartridge World, told Business Standard.

“At present, the share of institutional refilling is about 20 per cent for our company. However, in the next six months, we hope this segment share will increase to 50 per cent,” he added.

Cartridge World is the only organised printer cartridge refilling and retail chain, but still accounts for a minuscule share of the Indian market, which is worth about Rs 3,000 crore and growing at a rate of 20-25 per cent annually.

Rakhecha was in town to launch the 46th Cartridge World store, which is branded as a one-stop shop for all printer related needs. “We plan to have about 250 stores pan India by the end of 2009-10.”

Meanwhile, Cartridge World, with a group turnover of about $500 million and operations in 51 countries, is also aiming to earn carbon credits, since its refilling services globally help in environment conservation by recycling cartridges.

“The talks are on in the US, and we hope such a system will be in place in the next six months,” he said. Carbon credits can be traded in international carbon credit exchanges, adding to the profitability and goodwill of a firm.